OTTAWA — As the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP 15) approaches, the University of Ottawa’s Institute of the Environment is host of the live broadcast of the latest Munk Debates which will address one of the most pressing public policy issues of our time: How should the world respond to climate change?

The debate will oppose climate experts and activists including Elizabeth May, George Monbiot, Bjørn Lomborg and Lord Nigel Lawson. A discussion panel featuring University of Ottawa experts on the subject of climate change will follow the debate.

Elizabeth May is an environmentalist and the leader of the Green Party of Canada. She is also a writer and a lawyer and has been active in the environmental movement since 1970. She has written seven books, has served on the boards of many environmental groups and on advisory bodies to universities and governments in Canada, and has received many awards.

George Monbiot is the author of several best-selling books, including his 2006 Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning, where he focuses on the issue of climate change and argues that a 90% reduction in carbon emissions is needed in developed countries to prevent disastrous changes to the climate. Monbiot also writes a weekly column for the Guardian newspaper.

Bjørn Lomborg is adjunct professor at the Copenhagen Business School. He is the organizer of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, which brings together some of the world's top economists to set priorities for the world. Lomborg is also the author of the best-selling The Skeptical Environmentalist and Cool It, in which he challenges mainstream concerns about the environment and argues that we need to focus attention on other global problems first.

Lord Nigel Lawson, Baron Lawson of Blaby, is chairman of Oxford Investment Partners and of Central Europe Trust. His major interest has centred on the economics and politics of global warming, about which he has written a best-selling book, An Appeal to Reason: A Cool Look at Global Warming. The work has made him a prominent and high-profile climate-change skeptic.

The Munk Debates seek to provide a lively and substantive forum for leading thinkers to debate the major issues facing the world and Canada. Their purpose is to enliven and elevate public discussion of the political, social and cultural issues shaping the course of world events and Canada’s future.

WHAT: Munk Debates Live Broadcast: “Is Climate Change Mankind’s Defining Crisis?”

WHEN: Tuesday, December 1, 2009, 6:30 p.m.

WHERE: University of Ottawa, Desmarais Building, Room 4101 (55 Laurier Avenue East)

Please note that the debate is open to the public and free of charge. Those wishing to reserve a seat in advance may do so at http://www.munkdebates.com/membership_tickets/ticketsLiveBroadcast.cfm.